Means for opening and detwisting tubular fabric



3 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 22, 1953 1. B. LASLEY MEANS FOR OPENING AND DETWISTING TU'BULAR FABRIC Filed Feb. 12, 1951 INVENTOR.

JAMES nu fr BY .7 bf/1.0%, ATTQIWYEKS Sept. 22, 1953 J. B. I AsLEY MEANS FORk OPENING AND DETWISTING TUBULAR FABRIC Filed Feb. 12, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

JAMES B. LAJLEY BY 4 m 604W a s.

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M55 s. 4,451. er BY um 76M s@ TTOR/YEVJ J. B. LASLEY Sept. 22, 1953 MEANS FOR OPENING AND DETWISTING TUBULAR FABRIC Filed Feb. 12, 1951 'Ilm Hu t Patented Sept. 22, 1953 MEANS FOR OPENING AND DETWISTIN G TUBULAR FABRIC James B. Lasley,

South Carolina Lancaster, S. C., assignor to The Springs Cotton Mills, Inc.,

a corporation of Application February 12, 1951, Serial No. 210,452

(Cl. 2li- 55) 5 Claims.

This invention relates to means for opening and detwisting tubular fabric such as is necessary after wet processing of the tubular fabric in rope form, and the means of the present invention is particularly adapted for opening and detwisting a woven tubular fabric, such as pillow tubing, whichis characterized by selvage edges that must be maintained in regular alignment with the side creases in order to finish the fabric satisfactorily.

After wet processing in rope form, a tubular fabric is of course collapsed and badly twisted, as is well known. In order to carry out the subsequent iinishing operations, such as drying and starch sizing and calendering, and the like, it is necessary to open up the tubular fabric so as to dispose it as a smooth, double-thickness web, and also to remove any twist so that the fabric grain will be regularly aligned and so that any selvage edges will be inconspicuously disposed adjacent the side creases in the web. In handling pillow tubing it has heretofore been usual practice to carry out this opening and detwisting manipulation of the fabric manually as it Was fed to the finishing equipment, which has limited the speed at which this equipment could be operated in addition to requiring a substantial amount of tedious labor.

According to the present invention, means are now provided by which the opening and detwisting of the fabric may be effected easily and efficiently with a minimum amount of labor and at a substantially increased speed. Briefly de-l scribed, the means of the present invention com- .prises an opening shoe associated with means for holding the shoe as a rope or web of tubular fabric is drawn thereover, a roller member disposed transversely of the opening shoe for rotation by the tubular fabric as it is drawn over the shoe, and means for adjusting the transverse disposition of the roller member angularly with respect to the direction of travel of the fabric web so as to cause the web to shift about the opening shoe in order to remove twist.

The invention is described in further detail below in terms of its use for handling pillow tubing and in connection with the representative embodiment adapted for this purpose that is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. is a perspective View of an opening and detwisting means constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the means shown in Fig. 1, and taken substantially on the line 2-2 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a front end elevation as seen from the left in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view in which the angular adjustment of the detwisting roller member is illustrated.

As shown in the drawings, the opening and detwisting device of the present invention comprises a frame structure I and an opening shoe l2 supported and held to allow a tubular fabric F to be drawn thereover by a front roll I4, a spaced pair of rear, rubber-covered, stop rolls I6, and a pair of vertically disposed lateral positioning rolls i3, all of which are suitably mounted for free rotation on the frame structure l0.

rIhe opening shoe l2 is formed by plate members 2t and 22 presenting flat top and bottom shoe faces, and a tubular frame 24 to which the plate members 2li and 22 are secured, as by Welding, so that the tubular frame 24 presents rounded edges as at 26 joining the iiat top and bottom faces presented by the plate members 20 and 22. The opening shoe l2 rides with its rear rounded edge 26 at the spacing between the stop-roll pair I6 so that the tubular fabric F is guided oif of the shoe l2 as a smooth doublethickness web as indicated in the drawings at W. The opening shoe l2 is preferably formed of some corrosion-resistant material such as stainless steel, and its entire exterior surface should be Well polished so that the fabric web F may be drawn smoothly thereover when the opening shoe is proportioned with a cross section fitting the tubular extent of the fabric F so as to open it fully. The tubular fabric F may be drawn over the opening shoe l2 by nip rolls or drying cans or any other suitable operating element of a following processing unit.

The opening and detwisting device of the present invention further comprises a roller member 28 by which detwisting of the tubular fabric F is effected as it is drawn over the opening shoe I2 from a roped condition as indicated in the drawings at R. This roller member 28 is disposed transversely of the longitudinal axis of the opening shoe l2 by means of a yoke 3&3 in which it is journalled, and which yoke 30 is in turn carried on a vertical spindle 32 that is rotatably and slidably mounted in an overhead standard portion 34 of the frame structure I0. The spindle 32 is fitted with a retaining collar 36 against which a spring 38 is arranged to bear downwardly and thereby yieldably press the roller member 28 against the iiat top face formed by the plate member 20 of opening shoe l2 so that the roller member 28 is disposed for rotation by the tubular fabric F as it is drawn over the opening shoe l2.

The spindle 32 extending from the yoke 30 that carries the roller member 28, as described above, is further fitted at its top end with a control arm iii extending conveniently to the side of the device for manual manipulation. Through this control arm fie the transverse disposition of the roller member 2B may be adjusted angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of the opening shoe i2, as illustrated best in Fig. 4 of the drawing, so that the tubular fabric F may 'be caused to shift about the opening shoe I2 as it is drawn thereover from the rope form at B, to eliminate twist. In the case of a material SllCh aS pillow tubing which contains selvage edges as indicated in the drawings at S, the form of opening shoe I2 illustrated and described above is of particular advantage in that the rounded side edges presented by the tubular frame 24 render the selvage edges readily visible so that they can be maintained easily in proper alignment at these side edges for coinciding with the side creases later to be formed in the tubular fabric web W,

The present invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

l. claim:

1. Means for opening and detwisting tubular fabric comprising an opening shoe, means for holding said opening shoe while drawing a tubular fabric web thereover, a roller member biased against said opening shoe for rotation by a vtubular fabric web drawn thereover, and means for varying the angular relation of the axis of rotation of said roller member with respect to the direction of travel of sand tubular fabric web and thereby causing said web to shift about said opening shoe as it is drawn thereover for removing twist from the web.

2. In a device for opening and detwisting tubular fabric, the combination with an opening shoe and means for holding said opening shoe while drawing a tubular fabric web thereover, of a roller member disposed transversely with respect to the direction of travel of said tubular fabric web and yieldably pressed against said opening shoe for rotation by said web as it is drawn over said shoe, the transverse disposition of said roller members being adjustable angularly for causing said tubular fabric web to shift about said shoe as it is drawn thereover in order to remove twist from said web.

3. Means for opening and detwisting woven tubular fabric having selvage edges, said means comprising an opening shoe formed with a flat face and rounded side edges adjacent said flat face, means for holding said opening shoe while drawing a web of said tubular fabric thereover, a roller member disposed transversely in relation to the flat face of said opening shoe and yieldably pressed against said fiat face for rotation by said web as it is drawn thereover, and means for adjusting the transverse disposition of said roller member angularly with respect to the direction of travel of said web, whereby said web may be caused to shift about said opening shoe for maintaining the selvage edges thereof aligned at the side edges of said opening shoe.

4,. A dei/ice Of the Charater described for opening and detwisting pillow tubing following wet processing of said pillow tubing in rope form, said device comprising an opening shoe formed with fiat top and bottom faces and rounded side edges joining said faces, said faces and side edges being proportioned with a cross section fitting the tubular extent of said pillow tubing, means for holding said opening shoe while drawing a rope of ,said pillow tubing thereover for opening, a roller member disposed transversely in relation to a flat face of said opening shoe and yieldingly pressed thereagainst for rotation by said pillow tubing as it is drawn over said shoe, and means for adjusting the transverse disposition of said roller member angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of said shoe, whereby said rope of pillow tubing may be caused to shift about said opening shoe as it is drawn thereover for opening and thereby remove twist from said rope so that the pillow tubing selvage edges may be maintained in alignment at the side edges of said opening shoe.

5. A device of the character described for opening and detwisting tubular fabric following wet processing of said fabric in rope form, said device comprising a frame structure, an opening shoe formed with fiat top and bottom faces and rounded side edges joining said faces, said faces and side edges being proportioned with a cross section fitting the tubular extent of said fabric, means on said frame structure for supporting and holding said opening shoe while drawing a rope of said tubular fabric thereover for opening, a roller member, means on said frame structure for disposing said roller member transversely in relation to a flat face of said opening shoe and for yieldingly pressing said roller member against said opening shoe face for rotation by said tubular fabric as it is drawn thereover, and associated manually operable means for adjusting the transverse disposition of said roller member angularly with respect to the longitudinal axis of said shoe, whereby said rope of tubular fabric may be caused to shift about said opening shoe as it is drawn thereover for opening and thereby remove twist from said rope of tubular fabric.

JAMES B. LASLEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 231,270 Case Aug. 17, 1880 1,280,607 Widdowson Oct. 1, 1918 1,298,006 Chatfield Mar. 25, 1919 1,334,114 Palmer Mar. 16, 1920 2,410,146 Birch Oct. 29, 1946 2,517,067 Wedler Aug. 1, 1950 

